The expo is closed. There’s only a few technical sessions left. The end of any meeting starts to look like a ghost town as people head home.

I’m not sure, but I think I’m the last C&EN reporter here. I’m attending a session on systems-wide approaches to drug action and toxicity this morning, a couple of talks on protein engineering this afternoon, and then I head home this evening.

I enjoy national meetings, because there’s always so much to learn. But by the end, I’m ready to go home, even when the meeting is in a city I love as much as Boston.

For all the attendees who stayed to the end, have a good last day and a safe trip home. See you next time in New Orleans.

Ordinarily, I’m not a USA Today reader, but the stack of them in my Boston hotel room was getting kind of tall, so I picked one up just for kicks. In last Monday’s edition, I found this article, which describes “the 25 top milestones” of science during the past 25 years, in honor of USA Today’s 25th anniversary. I don’t see a single discovery on that list that could exclusively be claimed by the chemistry community, although I’m happy to be persuaded otherwise. (Maybe #8?)

Take a look yourselves and tell me what you think. Feel free to suggest stuff that you think should’ve made the list. I’m willing to bet that quite a few of the scientists behind those discoveries are speaking in Boston this week. After next Monday, USA Today’s main link switches to “25 travel milestones,” but you can still access the science list from there.

There are many good reasons to take a tour of the exposition hall at any of the ACS national meetings. It’s a great way to learn about cutting-edge technologies, make new contacts, and, with any luck, pick up a few new toys.

As I plowed my way up and down the many colorful aisles in Halls A and B of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center this afternoon, I looked for special giveaway items that would stir envy in the hearts of many.

As I explained my mission to many exhibitors, some lamented that there were few tchotchkes available at this meeting.

Going to Sci-Mix is like visiting an enormous art gallery. There’s so much to see, and every poster is unique. But unlike at an art gallery, there are many distractions at Sci-Mix—free beer, for one. The challenge is to get people to stop in their tracks as they make a beeline for the beer line. Here are three of my personal favorites:

Boston is famous for lots of things—including fresh seafood, dropped Rs, and a passion for the Red Sox. Having grown up a few miles north of Boston, I eat plenty of fish, proudly display the regional accent, and, yes, hid my husband’s Yankees hat after we got married.

I love some good clam chowda too. So when I heard that Gerald DeMenna, an adjunct professor of chemistry at Sacred Heart University, in Fairfield, Conn., would give a little talk about chemistry of clam chowder to a group of science writers gathered on Monday evening, I had to see what he’d say. (Especially because I couldn’t go to his Tuesday talk.)

Now when I think of chowda, I admit to only thinking of one kind. But two chafing dishes at the gathering held two different concoctions: the (glorious) cream-based New England Clam Chowder and that thin, red, tomato-based (imposter) known as Manhattan Clam Chowder.

On Tuesday of the ACS meeting in Boston, Harvard University chemistry professor and Chemistry Nobel Laureate E. J. Corey received the first ACS Publications Division “Cycle of Excellence High Impact Contributor Award” at the Publications Division/C&EN booth in the Exposition. Corey has published more than 500 papers in ACS journals during his more-than-50-year career. Many of them are among the most highly cited papers in ACS journal history.